Strange question for the techies (all of you i guess!)

Hi there, my father has given me the task to find him new laptop with big screen and numeric keypad with a maximum budget of £600 incl VAT. So the choices I have are the Studio 17 or the Vostro 17. I really do not like the look of the new gen vostro (i have the older one currently which looks like the older inspirons)

anyways....looking at the specs of the systems available now, I'm amazed at what you can get for such little money. For around £550 i can get the studio 17 with 4gb ram, 320gb hdd and t6400. compared to my nearly 2 year old vostro, the spec is pretty good apart from my high res tru-life screen which i love. teh studio comes with some crappy low res bog standard thing.

what i am asking is whether i can swap out the screen from the vostro to the studio, so i can keep the sweet studio and my dad can get the older vostro. i'm assuming lcd panels are standard size accross dell machines.


thanks for your time guys and gals!

 

They've both got 17" 16:10 displays, and Dells are usually fairly standard with their parts. Though I don't have a source, I'd bet money they're swappable, even if it would be a bit of work.

Though the T7300 is better than the T6400, though admittedly not by very much. If I were you I'd get a better CPU as well when you get the studio.

 

hey, cheers for your speedy response mate. regarding the cpu, i am hoping to stay within the £600 limit...but if there is a reasonable cpu upgrade that i could do with relatively little money, could you please suggest one?

edit: actually, ive built a new system for £602 delivered incl VAT:

Base Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40Ghz, 3MB, 1066MHz)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Memory 4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
Keyboard Internal English Qwerty Backlit Keyboard
Video Card 256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650
Hard Drive 320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Optical Devices Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Wireless Networking Intel WiFi Link 5100 (802.11 a/b/g/n 1X2) 1/2 MiniCard
Cables 1 Meter Power Cord (3 Wire) - UK
Bluetooth Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
Primary Battery Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Camera 2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera - CCFL
Colour Choice Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish
LCD 17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ CCFL (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife™


is this worth the additional money? i think its prettyh good considering the bluetooth is included AND combined with the screen from my previous vostro this is gonna be a hot system!

for any othe readers out there, if anyone has any more knowledge regarding the screens (e.g. part numbers for both the studio and vostro versions) that would be a huge help!

thanks again peeps

 

That's much better with the P8600. Looks like a sweet system.

http://cgi.ebay.com/A-NEW-DELL-STUDIO-17-17-WUXGA-GLOSSY-LCD-SCREEN_W0QQitemZ270361322169QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270361322169&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

This is a listing for a Studio 17 display, and listed compatible models includes the Vostro 1700. So that confirms my thoughts that they are compatible.

 

thts a nice system.go for it.

 

OK, well just a quick update. I have gone for the system above at a grand total of £602.08. I tried to get a better deal, haggling and speaking to managers etc for a good 40mins but they just would not budge. A 'senior' manager said to me things like "we're not making any profit on these, we're giving it away, it's because of the economic downturn blah blah blah". I gave up in the end, Just want to ask people if they feel that this is a good deal or not.

Also, a quick Q regarding the production phases; I ordered at around 5pm last night. I checked the status today and amazingly, it is already in delivery preparation!! Does this sound a bit strange to anyone, or are the staff at the production facility really laid lack with not a lot of systems to produce?

One more question, is it entirely safe to do the screen upgrade myself? I've not looked into it but I'm just expecting to simply read the service manual and do a clean swap. I haev no idea about backlights and power inverters etc. Is there anything I need to look out for? I don't want to find that my high res screen requires too much power and blows out the studio...if thats possible?!?!

 

If all the parts are in stock, it's not uncommon to have an extremely fast turnaround time, but one day is a little out there? Maybe it's more common than I think, but it's never happened to me...

It is safe to upgrade the screen yourself. It may void your warranty. If the screens are actually the same, it should just be a matter of following the service manual and replacing the screen. All the other parts should be compatible.

 

Just to further add to the "out there-ness" i've checked again and its in stage 5: Delivery , though there is no tracking code or link to walsh western .

This is totally different to what i experienced last year with my vostro, which came 3 weeks after their EDD!

 

It sounds more likely to be a bug; but it may also be possible that they've simply managed to turn it around that quickly.

If it is true, then congratulations to you; lucky git ;o) I've just had to wait 3 weeks for my new inspiron, which is being delivered (hopefully) on Monday.

And yes, that's a very good price for that system - if you'd have managed to haggle them down on that then that would have been really really impressive!

 

Got the 'automated call' today at 8am thanks for waking me up on my day off! scheduled delivery on tuesday between 8am and 1pm.

Quick question...On your order status page, do you have a traking link from walsh western? I dont have one, but is there meant to be?

 

Yup, I had one almost immediately; although the details often don't show up in the Walsh Western system for a few days - so you click the link and it tells you invalid something or other

 

Why would you be irritated at that? If I got an automated call telling me when my laptop was being delivered, I wouldn't care if that call came at 1:30am!